Sunday, July 21, 2013

My name is Tenae Stewart and I’m a 20-year-old art history student in Northern California. I own Strawberry Moon Books & Boutique, an Etsy shop where I sell vintage books and handmade items including watercolor bookmarks and decoupage pieces made from recycled book pages. I’m inspired by the beauty of books and the smell of old pages, especially in our modern e-reader world.

My store is quite new, having only opened in April 2013, but it has always been my dream to own a book and gift shop. When I was 12, my mom bought the local flower shop and through the years. I've become more and more involved in the gift portion of our store, particularly working with small American-made companies like those found on Etsy. Someday I hope to expand Strawberry Moon into a brick-and-mortar location where I will be able to sell new and used books, my own creations like those found in my Etsy shop currently as well as unique gifts from American artists.

My shop is a combination of new and vintage items, all focused on books for a sense of consistency throughout. My watercolor bookmarks, for example, are quite unique; although there are innumerable shops that sell bookmarks, mine are all guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind. First I paint recycled book pages with abstract watercolor designs and then I use the painted pages like scrapbook paper to decorate paper tags, along with glitter tape, buttons, ribbon and more. I like the romance of handmade pieces that are all unique!

The hanging wall plaques in my shop were a pleasant surprise – I didn’t expect them to turn out so well! They’re really quite simple to make but they make a big impact in any room and each one is unique since they’re made from a recycled book page. The pink “dream” piece in particular is my favorite.

I don’t typically do custom orders simply because the majority of my pieces are one-of-a-kind based on what book page is used or how the watercolor painting turns out. However, if a customer is looking for a certain word to be printed on a wall plaque or a box, I’d be happy to accommodate!

My products are almost exclusively found on Etsy but I do have a small display in my mother’s shop, Middletown Florist & Gifts.

Outside of Etsy, I work part-time as a manager at my mother’s flower and gift shop as well as attending college as an art history major. I also volunteer at a private school teaching art which I absolutely love!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Today's Sunday Spotlight is focused on the fun art of Caitlin Wilson of 90 Degree Angle. Get inspired by her art, then go shopping!

I aspire to be an inspired environmentalist in my work, I worry a lot about the planet and although not all of my products are completely up-cycled/recycled/have an environmental goal (although right now I'd say a majority do/are) I'm trying to gear myself into a direction that they all will be soon!

My store is actually fairly new, and right now still ironing out which products people love! I really enjoy making the products and searching for the resources to reuse and up-cycle for the products.Right now there is just one of me making the items, although I am always happy to do custom orders and try to be as speedy and helpful as possible, I am proud of my environmental goals with in my shop and products and although not everything is quite an up-cycled item, I try to always use recycled materials for packing as well as include a little reduce reuse recycle message!

I'd say right now I'm really proud of my coffee/tea (glass)mug candles, I think they are really cute and original-I worked really hard coming up with them/and perfecting them--and I love that the customer can reuse the glasses for drinks after they finish their candles.

I do any kind of custom order you can imagine whether custom from an item I already feature or something new-- including problems solving gifts--customer posses a problem and I make suggestions of gifts I could make until we are both happy with the out come--really in this process I just ask for patience and that the customer see it all the way through :)

I have many trades :) Right now I have a degree in Journalism and Photography, I do some nanny-ing for a very special little girl who inspires many of my gifts, and I am currently in grad school for a world conservation degree in zoology--which will hopefully greater inspire and help my ideas for my Etsy shop.

I'd be happy to do a free shipping offer on any jewelry purchases to readers who mention this article within 2 weeks of the posting--if they message me about it I'll alter their order so there is no shipping charge!